OU softball: Keilani Ricketts, Jessica Shults to play in Title IX Game

A collection of the world's best softball players will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Title IX on Saturday.

OU's Keilani Ricketts and Jessica Shults will play for Team USA as it faces Canada in the Title IX Game at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium.

OU's Keilani Ricketts, left, speaks next to teammate Jessica Shults during college softball media day for the University of Oklahoma Sooners at the OU softball complex in Norman, Okla., Monday, Feb. 6, 2012. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman

The game will begin 6 p.m. Saturday and is the national team's last game before the World Cup of Softball, set to begin June 28.

Ricketts and Shults are less than a month removed from leading the Sooners to a runner-up finish at the Women's College World Series. Both were selected to the national team for the second straight year.

Shults expressed her excitement about participating in an event that celebrates the landmark legislation.

“It's just a great honor,” Shults said. “Being able to be a part of the Title IX Game is just an unbelievable experience. It's just an honor to be apart of it.”

Jackie Farley lived through the passing of Title IX and is a noted expert on the subject. She has served as director of recreational services at OU and teaches a course about women in sports at the university.

Farley credits a new generation of fathers who respond well to their daughters' affinity for sports and competition.

“Fathers in this generation now are so in tune with their daughters and they're so much more involved in their lives and sports are a big part of that,” she said.